The present invention relates to paper handling and counting machines and more particularly to novel electronic means for controlling the machine and for visually displaying accumulated counts developed by the machine, as well as other machine conditions wherein the count display means is also utilized to provide an indication of the possible operating states of the machine.
There are a wide variety of applications in which it is extremely advantageous to provide equipment for counting paper documents accurately and at high speed. Some typical applications exist in the fields of counting checks, paper currency and tickets, to name just a few. Especially when counting paper currency, it is important that the paper handling and counting equipment be capable of providing an accurate error-free count. One suitable machine for accomplishing these objectives is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,783 issued Nov. 13, 1973 and assigned to the assignee of the present application. The electronic control means for controlling a paper handling and counting device of the type described in the above-mentioned patent is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,868 issued Mar. 11, 1975, which patent is also assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Although the above paper counting and handling machine and electronic control equipment has been found to be quite satisfactory for achieving the above objectives, it is nevertheless desirable to provide a machine of similar capabilities at a significantly reduced cost. Such an inexpensive and yet highly reliable and accurate machine is described in copending application Ser. No. 618,280 filed Sept. 30, 1975 by the assignee of the present invention. Commensurate with the objective of providing an inexpensive paper counting and handling machine, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and yet highly reliable and accurate electronic control means adapted to control the paper counting and handling apparatus described in the above-mentioned copending patent application.
The paper counting and handling apparatus described in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,783 and utilizing the control and display means described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,868, includes a display means for displaying a cumulative count of the documents already counted and provides further display means or lamps for indicating other pertinent operating states of the apparatus such as the occurrence of a jam condition, the occurrence of a power-on state, a visual indication of the fact that the machine is in the batch mode, and the like.
One objective of the present invention is to provide all of the above visual indications and displays through the utilization of the count display means to the exclusion of all other separate lamps or display devices, thereby significantly simplifying the electronic control means, reducing the cost thereof and increasing reliability through the elimination of additional lamp indicators which would otherwise require periodic replacement due to failure.